Ross Bjork (OSU AD)

[ScriptOhio]

Skull Session: An Ohio State Fan Wants Ross Bjork to Experience a Football Game from the Bleachers, Archie Griffin is the 2026 Agonis Club of Columbus Person of the Year

An Ohio State fan wants Ross Bjork to experience a football game from the bleachers, and Archie Griffin is the Agonis Club of Columbus 2026 Person of the Year.

www.elevenwarriors.com

UNDERCOVER BOSS: OHIO STATE AD. One of my favorite pastimes is reading The Columbus Dispatch’s Letters to the Editor. Sometimes they’re good for a laugh; sometimes they’re good for reflection. This week brought both, but the one that stood out came from Powell’s Benny Wolfinger, an Ohio State season-ticket holder who insists Ross Bjork is out of touch.

“My wife and I are longtime OSU football season-ticket holders, and after receiving the survey email from OSU, reading Rob Oller’s comments regarding the stadium restrooms and, finally, your published letters, I have a few comments,” Wolfinger wrote. “Rather than having our athletic director and his entourage review the consolidated survey responses from ticket holders and view the recommendations of potential actions to take, why don’t they personally experience what we season-ticket holders do? This coming season, I suggest they divide up and sit individually in the seats we common folks sit in (no premium seating or seats between the 20-yard lines) and experience what it’s like to stand up to let other ticket holders pass by for their seats, standing in line for concessions and the time they had to wait to use the restrooms.”

Wolfinger shared an example to drive his point home.

“At a game last year, I left my seat with three minutes left in the first half to use the restroom and get my wife and me some snacks and bottled water. The lines were so long that I returned to our seats halfway through the third quarter. My wife attempted to contact me, but the weak Wi-Fi did not allow her messages to go through,” he wrote. “I believe an experience such as this would provide the AD and his staff more valuable feedback than a filtered survey.”

I love it.

Ohio State could even turn it into a #content opportunity — make it an episode of Undercover Boss.

Come on, Ross! Spend a game in the fans’ shoes!

 

[ScriptOhio]

https://www.dispatch.com/story/sports/college/football/2026/06/25/ohio-state-athletics-budget-500-million-ross-bjork/90699623007/

Ohio State's Ross Bjork projects to have $500 million athletics budget 'very soon'​

Athletic director Ross Bjork expects Ohio State’s athletic department to be the first to record an annual operating budget of $500 million in the coming years.

“It’s going to happen,” Bjork said. “It could happen in three years from now. It could happen two years from now or five years from now. But we will have a $500 million athletic budget at some point in time very soon. We have that capability.”

Since replacing Gene Smith at the helm of the athletic department two years ago, Bjork has seen soaring revenues from ticket sales, sponsorship and licensing, as well as record fundraising following their national championship in football in 2024.

The university’s athletic department exceeded $300 million in operating revenue for the first time during the 2025 fiscal year, according to its annual financial report to the NCAA.

The department’s total of $336.1 million marked a significant spike from its previous high of $279.5 million from the 2023 fiscal year. Revenue and expense figures from this fiscal year ending on June 30 are not yet available.

Ohio State is a behemoth in college sports not only due to the stature of its football program, but also due to its sponsorship of 36 other varsity sports, leaving it tied with Stanford for the most among power conference schools.

Both factors have led the athletic department in recent years to pursue additional ways to generate revenue, especially as it also manages new expenses related to revenue-sharing with athletes that began last year following the settlement of three antitrust cases against the NCAA.

Bjork has sought to cultivate more donors as well as part of their fundraising efforts.

“There’s a lot of data that shows we have 12 million fans,” Bjork said. “If 1% of those people would join the Buckeye Club, what’s the math on that? One hundred and twenty thousand. Right now, we have about 25,000 donors, and that’s a great number, but how do we take the size and scale of Ohio State and maximize it?

“There really is no ceiling for our program from an engagement, enterprise, value, revenue, all of those things. That’s what we're really going to focus on. Take vision, turn it into action and make sure we're nationally competitive. We have to make sure there's some financial sustainable model.”

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has made a surprising admission about the Ohio State Buckeyes ahead of the 2026 season

Paul Finebaum has ruffled the feathers of Ohio State fans many times over the years. His latest comment on the Buckeyes may come as a surprise for that very reason.

atozsports.com

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has made a surprising admission about the Ohio State Buckeyes ahead of the 2026 season​

Paul Finebaum has ruffled the feathers of Ohio State fans many times over the years. His latest comment on the Buckeyes may come as a surprise for that very reason.

Paul Finebaum tells it like it is with the Ohio State Buckeyes ​

“Nobody is in Ohio State’s league right now,” Finebaum said recently. “I saw that story the other day, and the idea of a half-billion-dollar athletic budget is truly amazing. Now, remember, Ohio State has more sports than the average SEC program. I would think Texas and Georgia are considerably behind that. It’s just a number, but it’s also where college athletics is.”

Finebaum is typically viewed as somewhat of an SEC homer in Big Ten land. He was honest about no other program being on Ohio State’s level right now athletics-wise. Of course, much of it has to do with the support of Buckeye Nation, as well as the success the football team can ride on every season.